


Vow

by saratogaroad



Series: Oaths [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Mentions of Other Voltron Paladins, No Spoilers, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 11:24:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11713422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saratogaroad/pseuds/saratogaroad
Summary: "Hey..." He holds you to him, voice rumbling through your bones, "I'm here. I won't leave you again."You know better than to believe that. Still..."Do--do you promise?" You hiccup, tears blurring out the stars behind him as he pulls away just enough to cradle your head in both hands. He smiles, leaning forward to kiss your forehead, your nose. Then, he leans against you."I promise."(Shiro left someone behind before Kerberos. Now, he's come back. Things will never be the same again.)





	Vow

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to [Promise](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7463490). Takes place during Episode 1 of Season 1; no Season 3 Spoilers.

Sunrise comes in a wash of colors and warmth, light restored to the world. To your world. In the dawn light that filters through Keith's tiny bathroom window, Shiro's even more of a mess than before, sharp lines and tired eyes that drink in the sight of empty scrub desert and messy shack. It's like watching a blind man see for the first time, finally understanding what everyone takes for granted.

He's thinner, too. Covered in scars that speak of months of fights. Claw marks, ragged wounds healed improperly. The thin marks that can only be from a scalpel or something like that. Small, perfect holes that speak of projectile weaponry. You catalogue each one, mind going end over end as you snip and shave his hair, Keith bark and bluster just outside the bathroom door. 

A lot can happen in a year, you think to yourself, but this is...something else entirely.

"What happened?" You finally get the nerve to ask, the fine strands of his hair clinging to your fingers as you finish up. He's tense, metal and flesh hands grasping at his knees, dressed in his own clothes that Keith had stored here. He stares at the floor, but his eyes are distant, staring into a space where you can never stand, and perhaps...never understand. 

"I don't remember." His voice is soft, barely a whisper. "I don't...there's this..." He takes a breath, in through his nose, out through his mouth. He looks up at you through the mirror, through the shock of white hair you weren't sure how to cut. The morning sun casts odd shadows on his face. Your stomach churns again. "There's this black hole in my memory. I remember leaving the Garrison, the launch, getting to Kerberos, but after..." He closes his eyes. "Just...flashes. Nothing I can put together."

Trauma, supplies the bookish part of your brain. This time you don't shush it, taking in the lines of his starved body, the scars on his flesh. Your stomach churns, and you swallow it down. Maybe it's better he can't remember. 

"Well." You say, then have to clear your throat. You reach down for his hands, flesh and metal alike. The temperature difference is stark, but his grip is gentle as he closes his fingers around yours. "What really matters is you're home. We can figure out the rest as we go."

He smiles at you, kissing your palm. 

"Business as usual, huh?"

"Business as usual."

\----  
Except it's not. It's really not. Things go to hell in a handbasket faster than you can say your own name. 

What happens after...well. Half the time you're still not quite sure.  
\---  
Half-sentient, ancient battle lions. One of whom has been sitting, on Earth, for ten thousand years.

Actual aliens. Actual talking, walking, breathing aliens. Spaceships. A corrupting empire spreading across the stars like a plague. 

Pidge, Lance, Hunk. Keith. Shiro. Destined to fight it in a legendary space robot like something out of a mecha anime, even if half the time they can all barely get along. Maybe that's half the point, you think to yourself, standing on the Arusian hillside just outside the Castle. Unfamiliar stars whirl overhead, not a single constellation marked in the clear skies.

You never did end up finding Mars that night. Now, you wouldn't have a single clue where to look.

"You know," Shiro says, causing you to turn around to see him walking up the hill behind you., "I was thinking about it, and..."

"Yeah?"

"I kept my promise." He smiles. "I came back."

You can't help it. You laugh. His smile only widens as he comes to stand beside you, shoulder warm beneath your arm as you have to reach out for support. Laughter shakes your sides, your shoulder, your throat. Slowly, it gives way to tears. The grief of the past year clogs your throat, burns your eyes. 

For a _year_ he was gone. Dead. His name is carved on a memorial for _Progress_ into the stars, stars humanity will never understand are so much bigger than they ever could have imagined. For a year, you mourned him, mourned the color pulled out of your life with Shiro, and now...

Now he is back, the color has returned, and it _hurts_. You can't breathe for the pain of it, the heaving sobs that wrack your body and bring you both to your knees. He pulls you in to a hug, cradling your head against his shoulder, warm and so very _alive_.

"Hey..." He holds you to him, voice rumbling through your bones, "I'm here. I won't leave you again."

You know better than to believe that. Still...

"Do--do you promise?" You hiccup, tears blurring out the stars behind him as he pulls away just enough to cradle your head in both hands. He smiles, leaning forward to kiss your forehead, your nose. Then, he leans against you.

"I promise."

You should know better than to believe that. Still, as he holds you to his chest and lets you learn that he's alive again, you find yourself believing it anyway.

Maybe that's what makes what comes after so much harder.

**Author's Note:**

> Because your boyfriend being declared dead for a year, then coming back completely different, then flying off into space inside a semi-sentient, mostly-mystical lion, coming under attack by aliens intent on killing you, and then everything _else_ that happens in the span of just Episode 1, would give anyone a headache. I need to write a cuddlepile I'll get to that next.
> 
> Also yes hi season 3 wtf was that did anyone else think episode 5 was a trap? just me? OKAY THEN I'LL COME BACK TO THIS VERSE LATER WTF DREAMWORKS WHY ONLY 7 EPISODES?! October needs to get here already.


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